Hello,

I was recently approached by a journal to write a book review. While I accepted without hesitation, I am now at the point where I realise I should probably get on with reading the book and writing the review. Problem is, I don't really know where to start.

I'd really be grateful for any advice people may have on how they approach book reviews. -Do you read the whole book and reflect back or do you make notes as you go along?
-What kinds of things do you include in the review?
-Are there any decent guides out there?

The only other book review I've ever done was in the first term of my first year as an undergraduate ten years ago. I have already made a note to myself to make sure that my own students are taught how to write book reviews more effectively than I was!

Does anyone know if an ESRC CASE studentship counts as a 'fixed term contract' under UK redundancy laws? It says on gov.uk that a student cannot be considered to be on a 'fixed term contract' but as we all know 'student' is a broad term.

Most of my thesis is written. A few bits and pieces need sharpening up. I have a couple of months left before my deadline. So why have I suddenly hit the wall? For the past week I have made zero (and I do mean zero) progress despite having just had a 2 week holiday before that. I'm so close to finishing and now I can barely bring myself to even open word. I've tried listing everything I need to do, I've tried breaking it down into small manageable targets. I have no real reason to be lacking confidence at this stage but I've lost it all. Is this normal? It is almost as if the absence of any significant pressure has left me directionless and putting pressure on myself only makes it worse (makes the guilt worse). Help?

Hi folks,

I'm wondering if anyone can give me some advise on how to plan my thesis. In addition to the obvious (intro, lit review, methods, conclusions etc) I'm aiming to have 3-4 chapters for discussion my research findings. But how do you go about planning what to put in the different chapters? My approach at the moment is to try think about what research question each chapter is trying to answer but it is hard to keep all my material separate. I'm writing a monograph rather than a collection of articles so there needs to be a golden thread holding it altogether - it can't just look like 3-4 papers shoved together. I'd appreciate it if people could tell me how they approach their theses?

Cheers
Thephder

Hi folks,

I was interested if anyone who has been or is currently going through the process of writing up their thesis can provide some advice.

I'm currently working my way through the first of three planned chapters providing analysis of different aspects of my research.

What is giving me sleepless nights at the moment, and is really killing me when I'm writing is not knowing whether any of what I'm writing is making any sense or if I'm on completely the wrong track. I'm a very isolated PhD student and also find it very hard to give a piece of work to someone to look at unless I'm happy with it. I have no problem with criticism and find all feedback hugely beneficial but at the same time think I need to hit a minimum standard before I give something to my supervisor. I'm not prepared to waste their or anyone elses time with guff.

This strategy has always worked for me in the past but as I feel the pressure of deadlines approaching, the not knowing if I'm on the right track is just becoming more and more painful. Where do you get inspiration from to just keep going until you are happy to share your work with someone?

can anyone help with the following?

http://iss.sagepub.com/content/25/6/818.abstract


http://tcs.sagepub.com/content/23/2-3/101.abstract


PM me for email

I might just add that this only makes up about 1,000 words of the target of 15,000

Hi folks,

I was hoping for some advice from someone who has already finished their thesis, or at least their literature review chapter.

I'm trying to explain a rather complicated theory and have ended up being quite reliant on a paper written by established members of my field who actually do an excellent job of explaining what I want to explain.

I in no way see myself as plagiarising this piece of work as I am making explicit references to it. However, I am interested to know what experience people have had with doing this - should I be trying to find other sources to cite from as well or is it acceptable for this part of my review to mainly rely on this piece.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01402390500088379?journalCode=fjss20#preview

Can anyone help me with this one from the Journal of Strategic Studies?

Looking for help with these if possible:

1. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2154896X.2012.679554#.UZnuIMrXano

2. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2154896X.2013.783272#.UZnt3crXano

3. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2154896X.2012.679553#.UZnuAMrXano

4. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2154896X.2012.679563#.UZnuBsrXano

5. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2154896X.2013.771461#.UZntwMrXano

They're all from the same journal.

Thanks !

Hi all,

I was hoping I might be able to tap the collective for some tips on a presentation I have to give at a conference (in the social sciences).

I will be presenting a paper which is very theoretical to an indisciplinary audience. To make things more challenging I only have fifteen minutes to speak.

The paper I'm presenting is currently around 7,000 words in length - I usually think 1500-2000 words is about right for a 15 minute presentation.


My own thoughts are:

aim to:
- present the theory in big picture terms without worrying too much about the finer details
- not dwell too much on the theory and instead focus on giving a range of examples of the theory in practice
- not try to achieve too much (try to stimulate rather than blow people away - the latter would know doubt fail anyway)

avoid;
- using words that need to be explained
- getting annoyed when everyone stares at me blankly (or at their feet) during the time allotted for questions

I need some serious confidence boosting tips as at the moment I'm worrying that I won't be able to get my points across in any comprehensible fashion, with the added pressure that I have someone else's reputation a little on the line since they recommended me to the organisers!

Thanks!

Can anyone help me with this article please ?

Goal 2 done, and achieved goal 3 as well. Off now for a bite to eat in the sun before an afternoon with Nvivo and my ridiculous amount of data.

Boom, productive first hour as the application is done (thanks for the well-wishes Lindalou!)

Second goal of the day is to write the bulk of a presentation I have to give on Thurs

first goal today is to finish an application for a summer school